Sword Art Online: Chaos Labyrinth Beginning — Prologue
The dreary weather of the sixth of November didn’t dampen a certain lady’s spirits. She had obtained one of the 10,000 copies of the game that she had participated in the beta test for, Sword Art Online. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to bring an umbrella and as a result, she was getting drenched in the rain. Aw, man... she thought, Why is it raining? She hid the case within her vestments and took off into the morning tempest. Arriving home, she peeked into the dojo. Her cousin, Suguha Kirigaya, was, as usual, practicing kenjutsu. She ignored him like she always does and headed to her room. Clad in black, the young woman sighed as she took the contraption resting on her table. Her name is Shioko Kirigaya and she is about to embark on an adventure in another world. She let out an excited breath and opened up the cassette drive which stored the game Sword Art Online, more commonly known as “SAO”. She inserted it into her PC, put on the NerveGear and laid back on her bed. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, muttering, “Link... start!” She braced herself for the internal checks the NerveGear does, making sure it is connected to the five centers for her five senses in her brain. A pop-up appeared dictating a sign-in screen. She entered her ID and password and a new pop-up appears, asking if she wants to reuse her beta test data. She hit yes and everything went black. Welcome to Sword Art Online! She opened her eyes and found a familiar landscape. Ah... she thought, How good it is to be back. She didn’t know what she looked like because she purposely chose a male avatar for both the beta test and the official release. She only did this as she was curious to know what a boy experiences. She checked out her initial equipment. Well, I sorta expected my initial equipment to suck. She had the «Small Sword» equipped. She took a walk around the town, making sure to walk in a boyish gait. “Hey!” A voice resounded through the town. “Excuse me, are you a beta tester?” She turned around to face the voice. “Are you talking to me? If so, then yes, I am a beta tester.” “Yes! Do you know any good spots where we could level up easily?” Shioko raised an eyebrow. Huh. A complete noob is asking me for some good spots to level-up… That’s totally new. She nodded, “Yeah, sure. Follow me.” She left the bustling crowds of the «Town of Beginnings» and went out into the field. Leading the girl who had asked her, she found a wild boar. Shioko planted her feet. “Here. The boars in this area are quite weak but they do yield some nice experience.” The other girl applauded. “As expected of the beta tester! Okay!” She then drew her sword. Of course, it was identical to Shioko’s own, since the game had just started. Shioko also drew her sword and charged the boar first. “Okay, first tip. Keep your guard up at all times and pay attention to the enemy’s HP gauge.” The other girl nodded, wielding her sword. She made for a left-to-right slash and scored a hit. Shioko said, “Nice one.” Shioko danced with grace as she sidestepped the boar every time it tried to charge her. Each time, she slashes another wound into the boar. When it’s HP hit the red, she said, “Hey, you do the last hit!” The other girl nodded while Shioko kept the boar distracted. “Now!” she yelled. Shioko dove out of the way and the other girl made a wild swing. Shioko watched as the boar’s HP gauge hit zero and it dissipated in a pixelated explosion. The other girl panted, “Phew. Oh cool! I leveled up!” Shioko gave her a thumbs up, “Nice. Now, onto the next one!” Just like that, they burned the rest of the day hunting for more enemies to kill and level up from. The sun began descending and so did their adrenaline. Shioko sighed, “Phew.” The other girl beamed, “Wow, Senpai! You don’t seem tired at all.” Shioko’s heart skipped a beat. Sen… Senpai? Did she just call me “Senpai”? She turned away and replied, “Well, I’ve played this before so I pretty much know most of the stuff.” Shioko opened the window and checked her level. Level 4, eh? Not bad. The other girl dusted herself off and announced, “Well, I should probably head home now. My parents may start to get worried.” Shioko shrugged. “Okay. I’m going to stay in-game for a while longer.” “Nice. Well, I’ll see you later.” “Yeah, later.” The other girl stood up and opened a window, searching for the “logout” button. “Weird. I can’t find the logout option.” Shioko raised an eyebrow. “Odd. Hmm...” She opened her own window and looked for the logout button. “You’re right. It should be right here, below the Skills button.” Suddenly, the two glittered. Forced teleportation?! she thought. The two found themselves in the pavilion of the Town of Beginnings. Shioko noticed that every other player was also teleported here. She knew that the company behind SAO only sold 10,000 copies, meaning that there are 10,000 players. The sky burned red and a barrier appeared. Along with the barrier, someone else appeared. Shioko inspected the figure, who looks like a cosplayer who failed at being the Grim Reaper. A melodious voice announced, “Hello and good evening, players of SAO! I am sure that most of you know this already but I shall say it anyway. You may have noticed that there is no logout option. This isn’t a bug but a game mechanic of SAO.” The figure waved his hand and a virtual map of the castle they are in, Aincrad, appeared. He continued, “This castle has 100 floors. Of course, you will have to clear all 100 to clear the game.” Players began complaining about the burden ahead of them. The figure cleared his throat. “I also need to make another announcement since our beta test. We have made it so that if your HP hits zero, you die. Not just your avatar though. When you die, your data gets erased from the game and your NerveGear unleashes lethal blasts of microwaves, frying your brain. To sum it up, if you die in the game, you also die in real life.” Now the crowd entered the first stage of stampede. People began yelling at how they came to play this for fun, not to stake their lives clearing the game! “Now, now, I am only here to give you this announcement. Whether you live or die is up to you. Before I leave, I left a present in all of your inventories. Please open it.” With that, the mysterious Grim Reaper went away and the crimson barrier disappeared. Shioko was the first to return to her senses. She opened her inventory and found the item in question. It was a mirror. She pressed the button and it appeared in her right hand. She looked into it and glimpsed her avatar. Her avatar had spiky black hair and eyes the color of midnight. Seconds later, a blue light blasted out of the mirror and engulfed her. She screamed but no sound came out. When the light was extinguished, she looked at her new reflection. Stifling a scream, she stared at herself. Her avatar was now an exact match of herself: a beautiful woman with long flowing hair and eyes darker than night. She had perfect features; no error could be seen on her face. In other words, she was a goddess. The girl next to her gasped, “You’re… You’re not a boy!” Shioko turned to look at the girl. At least her appearance didn’t change. Shioko’s anger bubbled out. “Follow me, girl!” She ran out of the pavilion with the other girl struggling to catch up. Shioko bolted to the main gate while the other girl panted, “Hey! Where are we going?” She stopped and turned around. She replied, “To the next town over.” The other girl asked, “Why don’t you stay with me? I might need more advice.” Shioko answered, “I’m sorry but for now, we will have to part ways. It was nice to work with you.” Having said her bit, she wheeled around and ran again. “Wait!” the other girl called, “I don’t know your name yet!” Shioko ran in place and replied, “I’m Shiota!” “I’m Chelsea!” “Good luck to you, Chelsea.” With that, Shioko took off, running into the gloom. She burst out of the main gate and followed the road to the next town. She recounted the events of the evening. She defiantly thought, I will survive. This game... I shall clear myself. I will break out of this prison! You can’t hold me back! Along the way, she encountered a wolf. She drew her sword and shouted, “«Rage Spike»!” Her sword shone blue as she cut straight through the wolf, killing it instantly. Clouds covered the moon and the young girl disappeared into the gloom as if she had melted into shadow.